Chapter 2021： Great Battle between Britain and France (2)

"The Rise of the European Emperor (

What Edward Howard didn't know was that on the French warship at this time, the French fleet commander Pregent Pedous also looked forward to the direction of Plymouth in the north, confidently, hoping to do a great job.

You must know that France is the largest country in Western Europe, and it is properly No. 1 in Western Europe in terms of population and area. Moreover, France has the largest farming area in Western Europe. In this farming era, some people have fields, they are cattle.

The extremely powerful France of the cavalry is even more fearful to all countries in Western Europe, and it is almost invincible on land in Europe (provided that Pidhus does not know Marin's Gobi). The Italian War also allowed Pidhus to see the strength of the French.

Although the two conquests of Italy by France ended in failure, Bidouth believes that the first time France failed because of the plague. The second time, it was because of his inability to adapt to the Spanish musket tactics. As far as the population still has war potential, France still has the upper hand. What's more, the French have also begun to install muskets in the army, and the Spaniard's advantage will gradually be offset. In the end, it was France who won. When France annexes Italy, even parts of Italy, its strength will surpass Europe.

If it can help France defeat the English fleet and create history, the French will never treat him badly. A hereditary title and a good fief will not escape. If you wait for France to annex Italy, get a back cover in your hometown, Italy, and return home with good looks, you will be happy to think of it...

But the premise is to defeat the English fleet. I just hope that the English are enough to underestimate the enemy and don't send too many warships. Otherwise, even if he has advanced tactics, he will have to flee. After all, more ants can kill an elephant.

Slowly, the fleets of both sides were approaching each other. The opponent's mast first appeared in the eyes of the sailor who was observing the top of the mast. Then, the hull...

After seeing the Frenchman’s warship, the English sailor in charge of the watchman almost laughed with joy. He yelled down happily:

"Master Edward, there are indeed only 6 boats on the opposite side! Moreover, they are all galleys with very low freeboard!"

"What? The freeboard is low?" Edward Howard stood up from his seat in surprise.

"Confirm, the freeboard is very low!" the sailor replied loudly.

"Great, God bless England! In this battle, the Frenchman will be crying again!" Edward Howard laughed happily, and was contented for a while.

Why? Because the low freeboard means that in the battle of the jumper gang, it is easy to be jumped onto the deck by the opponent. Conversely, the freeboard is lower than that of the opponent's warship, and the difficulty for sailors to climb onto the opponent's warship increases exponentially.

Therefore, for the English sailors who are used to jumping ship gangs to chop, the French warship with low freeboard is almost the fat to the mouth...

Even Edward Howard himself is a master who jumps boats to help chop people, and likes to take the lead in jumping boats to help chop and kill enemies. Although he came from the noble Howard family, but because he is an offshoot, there is no future if he doesn't work hard. Therefore, he also practiced martial arts hard since he was a child, and slowly rose from the grassroots level. Of course, the so-called grassroots here refer to grassroots officers, not ordinary sailors. After all, he is a member of the Howard family, he started as an officer, no problem. Just like the later Duke of Wellington, he started as a lieutenant, that is, the rank of deputy company commander. Later, I went to the Indian colonial army and directly donated a major...

But to be the commander-in-chief of the English navy, a good background is not enough. Otherwise, it is not Edward Howard, a side branch of the Howard family, who serves as the admiral of the navy, but a direct line of nobles. Therefore, his ability cannot be ignored.

However, due to limited knowledge, this big brother with the same name as the king only knew that he brought a group of fierce English sailors (pirates) up there, waved his blade, and slashed at the devils...no, it was the Frenchman. go with……

As for tactics? Oh, I still know that it is the traditional way to seize the upper hand and besieged French warships. Since it is a siege, it is natural to have more warships, more and more fierce sailors...

There is nothing wrong with this, and it is not wrong in this era. But the problem is that he meets Mr. Bidoth who has an epoch-making wretched tactic.

Mr. Bidoth’s tactic, in the words of later generations, is to fly a kite. This trick has been tried repeatedly in the game. As long as it's wretched enough, and the running position is enough, no matter how powerful it is, it will be sent. Unfortunately, Mr. Edward Howard, who is as brave as his first, is the one who was kite this time...

...

Opposite, after seeing the full picture of the English fleet, Pregent Bidhus also smiled:

"I knew that the English would underestimate the enemy. This battle is stable!"

There were only 12 warships on the opposite side, which seemed to be quite a few, but it was still a lot less than the usual forty to fifty warships were dispatched. To really come to forty or fifty British warships, and to be surrounded by a fan, no matter how good Bidoth's tactics are, he will have to flee.

Because, Bidoth’s tactics need to circle around to the side of the enemy ship, and then use the lizard cannon on the bow to fire a 50-pound stone ball to hit the weak side of the enemy ship in order to get it. Smashed the leaking water and sank as a result.

If the number of enemy ships is small, and there is no fan-shaped encirclement, and there is enough space to maneuver, it will be more confident. If the surrounding area is full of enemy ships and there is no room for maneuvering, the kite tactics will be impossible to fight.

Fortunately, this general Edward Howard was very face-to-face, and only dispatched 12 warships, giving the French Calais space for maneuvering.

In fact, Edward was helpless. Because time was tight when the information was received, it was too late to recruit more warships. Therefore, he can only temporarily conscript the large armed merchant ships in the port from the Plymouth Naval Port.

Going to other ports to recruit warships is not that they cannot be recruited, but that they will miss the opportunity. After all, the French have arranged a large number of forts outside the port of Brest. In the case of unable to forcibly enter the port of Brest, every opportunity for an enemy ship to "suffer" when leaving the port is very precious. Coupled with his super confidence in his own strength, Edward Howard hurriedly recruited 12 warships. Moreover, he was also afraid of taking too many boats, so that the French would turn around and ran away after seeing them.

As everyone knows, the Frenchman’s tactic is no matter how many people you have, and you just run away, so his calculations are superfluous...

"Come here!" The French navy officers beside Pregent Bidhus were excited. And Pregent Bidhus himself, on the surface, looked calm and calm, but his palms were actually sweating.

This is a reason he has summed up from commanding naval battles for many years. At the moment of the war, as a coach, even if he is panicked, he must be calm and let his men mistakenly think that he is confident...

After feeling that it was almost done, Pregent Bidhus ordered loudly:

"Open the cover, the lizard cannon is ready to shoot!"

He used Italian, and the Italian sailors, who accounted for half of the ship, immediately understood it. The other half of the French also received instructions under the loud spread of the translators. Subsequently, these instructions were passed on to the 5 Calais ships nearby by the loud-sounding "heralds"...

And why are these lizard cannons covered with cover first? It was not to mislead the Italian businessman in the port of Brest who sent intelligence to the British. In order to confuse the British, the 6 Calais of Pregent Bidhus only train normal kite tactics when they go to sea for training. In the Bay of Brest, the traditional jump boat gang was trained to slash the British to confuse the British.

Now, the British warship is basically in range, and there is no need to cover it. Moreover, the lizard cannons on the bows of the 6 ships had already been loaded with gunpowder and stone bullets, and they were just waiting to be fired. Previously, it was covered with a drape, not only for covering up, but also for preventing rain and moisture.

"Listen to my orders, and the oarsmen will go all out! Sail to the northeast, and then focus on shooting the British ship at the front!"

Suddenly, all the oars on the boat who were resting and accumulating power stood in front of the huge wooden oars and began to paddle hard. The 6 Italian captains who have been following Bidhus also ordered the ship to sail northeast according to the content of the usual training step by step, so as to go around to the side of the British warship that is sailing south...

They are very proficient in this set. After all, in the past few months, apart from training half of the French sailors on board, they have practiced this tactic on the sea.

Therefore, after the order was issued, the 6 Calais burst out of powerful mobility and suddenly increased the speed from about 3 knots to 7 knots.

On the opposite side, the British commander Edward Howard was first taken aback by his opponent's sudden increase in speed. But after seeing the direction of their maneuvering, they were relieved...

"Oh, I thought they were going to run away with their tails in between. Unexpectedly, they dared to maneuver to our side! Send the order to let Mary Rose take the ship and rush to the enemy ship. I will cut a few Frenchmen myself!" Edward Howard Take off the silk robe that symbolizes aristocratic status, and only wore a sailor suit that was good for battle. Mainly, this is conducive to jumping off the boat to help cut people. If you wear a robe, you will get in the way when jumping off the boat and you may trip yourself.

The Mary Rose was also his ship in this naval battle and the flagship of the English fleet. Although this ship was also called, it was actually a merchant ship of the Howard family. Usually this ship will be responsible for the freight between Plymouth and Dublin to make a profit. But once war starts, it will become Edward Howard's command ship. The sailors on the ship are also servants of the Howard family. They are very loyal, and most of them are veteran swordsmen with strong combat effectiveness.

But Edward Howard didn’t know that it was because he wanted to cut a few Frenchmen to play with his own hands, which cost him a great price, and it also made England pay a great price...

Just as the Marie Rose took the initiative to leave the fleet and rush to the east, the six French Calais gradually arrived at the predetermined position and turned their heads together, aiming their bows at the easternmost ship of the English fleet. Battleship...